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8 Things You Should Never Keep on Kitchen Countertops, According to a Pro

When it comes to prime real estate inside your home, it doesn’t get more valuable than kitchen countertops. No matter how much (or how little) space you have, it rarely feels like enough.

Add a coffee maker here, a toaster there, and stacks of who-knows-what that pile up, and your space to prep dinner suddenly becomes much more limited.

This is why we asked three organizational experts what you should never keep on your kitchen countertops. Clear these eight items from your counters, and you’ll reduce visual clutter and free up maximum space to prepare your famous lasagna. 

Organized kitchen countertop

The Spruce / Michele Lee

Meet the Expert

Piles of Paper

Catalogs and bills and junk mail, oh my! These items all need a home—and it’s not your kitchen counter.  

“Every piece of paper is a decision to be made—a to-do, a call, or in the trash,” Nicole Gaba, owner of B. Organized, says. “Piles and piles of paper clutter are the home version of a bottleneck.”

Take the time to deal with these papers every day, sparing you from the stress of a pileup and the mess that comes along with it.

kitchen countertops

Design by PURE Design: Interior Design, Build & Shoppe / Photo by Janis Nicolay Photography

Cookbooks

Spare your beloved, beautiful cookbooks from the inevitable spattering of spaghetti sauce. 

“Be it water splashing or spills, keeping cookbooks on the counter is a sure way to get them messy,” Jen Rowe, founder of NEAT Method Toronto, says. 

An open shelf or cupboard is a better home for them, so you can flip through recipes on their pages (which won’t be glued together with spaghetti sauce) for years to come.

Cooking Oils

It may be convenient to keep your cooking oils within arm’s reach of your stove, but it’s both an organizational and safety no-no.

Keeping oils near a heat source, like a stovetop, can cause the oils to go bad quickly and may even melt the plastic containers, posing a fire hazard, says Shantae Duckworth, founder of Shantae-ize Your Space. Instead, store them in a dark cupboard or pantry.

kitchen countertops

Design by Peter Spalding / Photo by Kelley Kish

Phone Chargers

Not only does the tangled nature of chargers’ cords create a lot of visual clutter, says Rowe, but they can also easily get damaged if they're left out on the counter. A better place to store chargers is in a drawer or a basket that's easily accessible when you find your phone in low-power mode.

Infrequently Used Appliances

The coffee maker you put to work daily can stay on your kitchen countertop. So can a toaster, if you use it often. Other, lesser-used small appliances need a different home though to free up valuable countertop real estate. 

“These small appliances will differ for every household, but by storing them in a cupboard or pantry you'll have more space on your counters to do your kitchen work,” Rowe says. 

Cleaning Products

Food mixed with cleaning products is a terrible, dangerous recipe, so get them off of your kitchen counters immediately. Rowe suggests storing cleaning supplies under the kitchen sink or on a shelf in a nearby broom closet instead.  

“If the under sink space is feeling too cramped, don't discount the amount of vertical space in there, even if you don't have built-in shelves on account of the plumbing,” Rowe says. 

Shop for freestanding products that make use of the vertical space, freeing up room to store your cleaning supplies without needing to reach into the deepest corners, knocking down everything in its way.

kitchen countertops

Whittney Parkinson Design

Bulky Appliances

When it comes to storing oversized, awkward kitchen items (like your food processor, blender, slow cooker, and toaster oven), Gaba suggests using a rolling cart with shelves. That’ll help free up much-needed counter space and can be pushed into a corner when not in use. 

“It's much neater to collect all these large items in one place rather than having them placed randomly all over the kitchen counters, taking up valuable workspace,” says Gaba. 

Mugs and Glasses

There’s no need to slow down your first sip of coffee in the morning. Store your mugs, and all glassware for that matter, in a cabinet—not on your kitchen countertop, Duckworth suggests. Otherwise, they’ll collect dust quickly and need to be wiped out before using. 

“Plus, they are more prone to breaking if they’re left out among the chaos of the kitchen,” Duckworth says.